Italian tax authorities are preparing a significant overhaul of debt collection efforts, leveraging data from the nation’s extensive electronic invoicing system. The move, stemming from recent budgetary measures, will grant access to 2.5 billion invoices adn is projected to yield an additional 140 million euros annually starting in 2027. [[1]] Agency Director vincenzo Carbone is leading the 90-day implementation process, prioritizing new installment plans alongside this data-driven approach to improve recovery rates.
Italian tax authorities are moving to proactively address delinquent taxpayers by leveraging a vast new data source: the country’s electronic invoicing system. The initiative, spurred by recent budgetary measures, will grant revenue collection agencies access to 2.5 billion electronic invoices stored in the Italian Revenue Agency’s databases. Officials are currently developing the procedures for implementing the system, led by Agency Director Vincenzo Carbone, following prioritization of new installment plans for outstanding debt. The government has allocated 90 days – until the end of March – to complete the process.
Commercial Credits
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The primary goal is to target outstanding commercial credits held by debtors, improving collection rates. Access to electronic invoice data will allow authorities to identify the payments owed to delinquent taxpayers and intercept them before they are disbursed. This represents a significant advancement for the financial administration, providing access to a large and detailed database. Currently, 55% of these invoices represent transactions between businesses (B2B), 44% are to final consumers (B2C), and just 1% involve public administration entities (B2G).
Data Sharing
How will the system work? The Italian Revenue Agency will provide the collection agency with data on the total amounts due from invoices issued in the previous six months by debtors with outstanding obligations – including those with finalized enforcement orders or debt notices. This also extends to co-obligors with the same purchaser or client. This expands the current use of electronic invoice data, previously limited to anti-evasion efforts by the Guardia di Finanza (Italy’s financial police), the Revenue Agency, and Customs and Monopolies Agency. However, for collection purposes, the Revenue Agency will act as an intermediary, providing a semi-annual data package. This will not involve a broad, indiscriminate search of financial data. The acquired information will be carefully analyzed and used to target evasion related to unpaid debts and identify taxpayers with a high risk of fraud.
Targeted Enforcement
This initiative aims to improve the effectiveness of third-party garnishments. Recent figures show 600,000 garnishments were executed in 2024, resulting in total collections of 1.3 billion euros. However, only 22.3% of these procedures were successful, yielding an average recovery value of 10,500 euros. The technical report accompanying the budget law suggests the new system could double the success rate to 44.6%. This estimate is conservative, assuming performance improvements are achieved on just 10% of executed garnishments. This is projected to improve revenue collection from outstanding debts by 140 million euros annually starting in 2027, accounting for the system’s implementation period – 80 million euros from income taxes like Irpef and Ires, 40 million euros from social security contributions, and 20 million euros from debts owed to other entities managed by the collection agency. Effective risk analysis, leveraging the new data available to the collection agency, will be crucial to identifying the most promising recovery opportunities.
The Push for Improvement
The measure was also recommended by a ministerial commission tasked with addressing the backlog of outstanding debt managed by the collection agency. The commission highlighted the need to provide the public concessionaire with electronic invoicing data to initiate targeted garnishment procedures of credits from commercial relationships between debtors and third parties. This recommendation, unlike concerns surrounding data from current accounts (which proved politically sensitive), was adopted by lawmakers. The move underscores the Italian government’s commitment to improving tax collection efficiency and reducing outstanding debt.
